ETHNOBOTANICAL AND ETHNOBIODIVERSITY STUDIES FOR IN SITU PROTECTION OF HORTICULTURAL PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES IN ALP-BALKAN-CARPATH-DANUBE AREA

Abstract:
Note: This paper is the merged and edited version of lecture S21-O-13 and the poster S21-P-10 presented on the 26th International Horticultural Congress (IHC2002) in Toronto, Canada.

Dedicated to: the martyrdom of N.I. VAVILOV, arrested in 1940 in Northern Carpathians, sentenced to death secretly, killed in prison by torture and starvation on 16th January 1943.

In continuation of former studies on ethnobotany and ethnobiodiversity the present stage of Hungarian ethnobotanical research is reviewed, the possible role of ethnobotanical approach and the importance of ethnic components (human diversity, language, traditions) in supporting in situ protection of horticultural plant genetic resources (HPGR) is examined, an “exotic” human case, the non-Indo-European Hungarian Ethnobiodiversity Model (HEM), and its possible role in understanding Horticultural Plant Genetic Resources (HPGR) in Alp-Balkan-Carpath-Danube (ABCD) Area are presented.
In addition some case studies are mentioned: the “Malus-Case” and “Prunus-Case” illustrating Asian roots in HEM, the “Matthiola-Case” for Mediterranean influences, the “Phaseolus-Case” for Amer-Indian connections, the “Adonis-Introgression” as a possible consequence of Curgan Invasions, the “Telekia-Case” which may be connected with Ottoman Invasions, and finally the “Galanthus-Case” as an example of the influence of globalisation on HPGR. Possibilities and limitations in ethnobiodiversity studies are also discussed.
Based on personal experience accumulated during decades of ethnobotanical field studies and long-term clonal transplantation experiments performed in ABCD-Area a possibility of an European Ethnobotanical Database and of a Specially Protected Horticultural Plant Genetic Resource Registration Network is outlined in the conclusions.